An Iranian constitutional watchdog has rejected an appeal by the grandson of the Islamic republic's founder against his disqualification from running as a candidate for a top clerical body.

The official IRNA news agency reported on February 10 that the Guardians Council had upheld a ban preventing Hassan Khomeini from running for election to the Assembly of Experts, which is empowered to pick Iran's supreme leader.

Hassan Khomeini, 43, is a midranking moderate cleric with ties to the reformist faction of the Iranian establishment.

He is also the grandson of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the cleric who led Iran's 1979 revolution and founded the Islamic republic.

The Guardians Council has disqualified thousands of other potential candidates from standing in the February 26 elections to both the Assembly of Experts and to parliament.